Cool Water Lager
Sunriver Brewing Company

easy drinking lager, american and straightforward, everyone needs one of these nowadays, and this is as good as any i suppose, although not the innovative and distinctive beer i expect from these guys, at least at first glance, a little more standard in presentation, and thats okay, its a drinker, pure and clean and simple in a good way, subtly unique on the hop side though, some corn in the mash apparently, i think just crafty enough without trying too hard to be that, a nice place for it to be, i could drink ten of them, and it seems like thats the point, so well done guys. beautifully clear, incredibly light yellow color, majorly bubbly and with a nice white head on top from the tap, looks clean, smells fresh, and has a bit of nuance in the nose from lorien hops, along with the saaz and the chinook in here, but the lorien is the unique element, nice touch, herbal, floral, lightly zesty to me in combination, but not a hoppy beer per se, just balanced and supremely fresh, nice obvious minerality and crispness, faint lager yeast character, and minimal grain base, i suppose the corn serves to keep the body as light as the color. the flavor is pleasant for sure, springy and vibrant, nothing cheap or adjuncty about it, despite its lightness overall, clover and dried lemon zest, honeysuckle, melon rind, limey saaz, cool hop wrinkles but again, way way back behind a snappy crisp basic seeming beer, tidy and professional on the lager side, uncompromising there, super effervescent too which is flattering. very light bitterness but also some moderate sweetness keeping that in check, neither heavy it any. summery and effortless without quite being mindless, super well done overall, sneakily a little more crafty than many, even from craft breweries, nailed it!

Look: Straw colored on the pour with a lively head that rapidly dissipates to a film and leaves a good coating of lacing on the glass

Aroma: Light flowery potpourri, soda crackers, some cut grass, pilsner malt, and wafts of biscuit

Taste: Starts out with some cracker-led pilsner malt that lingers for a fleeting moment before a flower-nectar-like sweet note shows up. That begins the transition to floral hops with honeysuckle and daylily highlighting and that hangs around, going back and forth with crackers through the close

Mouthfeel: Light, very clean, medium-high carbonation, and clean and crisp on the finish

Overall: I dig it. This is a tasty, albeit subtle at times, light lager that does exactly what it should do – be refreshing and quaffable – like a baby Helles of sorts. No flaws, outside of being light in flavor, and really hitting the spot after my hour-long walk in the 97 degree heat